Lessen The Stressin' 'N' Mind Messin', Same Ol' Lesson, And A Blessin' Session.

Yeah, I know that you two guys want to see the boat afloat bobbing upon the sea. I was scrambling to put it all together. I scrambled around trying to coordinate the assembly of equipment, condition of the final pieces, loading of the hulls, Rocky (you remember Rocky, don't you?), Budge's schedule and my psyche (scrambled) . We decided to postpone it. I need a break. A deep breath. The rush to get it done creates chaos and destroys the experience. I didn't take a break this summer, deciding to bull through the process. It's the same old learning experience: do it right! Now I will take a break and see my sons in Ohio. We don't do anything and ignore each other mostly, but the simple proximity is comforting and sufficient. Hell, it's the holidays. Maybe next year................

And a thankya to Ken, one of my two blog readers, for his comment last post. Sorry,  man, I had to take the break. I've been running on empty for 4 months. I want to be excited, but there's no gas in the tank. Time to unscramble.

We finished the last detail on the masts: putting on the vhf antenna connector. Budge, the chronic procrastinator, always thinks such piddly details could be done anytime. I think that now is one of those any times, so why not do it. So He screwed it on and applied a torch and screwed it up. The torch was too hot and melted the insulating phenolic. 

We started over with a soldering iron this time and were successful. Sealing it with heat shrink. ​The masts are now as done as done can be. 

Now, those of you whut knows this boat knows that the motor wells are supposed to pivot up and down to raise the motors out of the water so they don't drag under sail. Of course, my choice 0f motors will not permit this, so we have to fix the motor wells in place and tilt the motors out of the way.  Aluminum brackets bolted in place will hold the motor wells in place.

I built some sturdy cross bracing into the motor wells. Of course, these were now in the way if we wanted to tilt the motors. I had to cut them out. Heartbreak is the name of the game. Man plans, God laughs.

Of course, I had to coat the cut edges and the drilled holes.

A long time back, I bought some government spec. boxes. They had thick foam rubber glued in, which I had to remove. These waterproof boxes will hold my stuff needing protection. One is now filled with my traveling library.

Two valiant tools died this week, laying at rest in the bottom of the trash can . A multitool and a battery powered drill. Two battle scarred veterans served well in the construction of the boat and died with their proverbial boots on. The death count included two battery powered drills, a multitool, many drill bits and a power hand planer. ​Now, everyone, bow your heads.

Father Michael stopped in. He has not been around for a while. I gave him the full guided tour of the complete boat. An off hand remark about the boat and he said "Would you like me to bless the boat?". I said "Sure"! He dug into his backup clergy kit in his pickup truck and produced a prayer book and a ribbon. A bit of water in a peanut butter jar, a bit of salt in the water (it is an ocean going vessel, after all), a paintbrush as an impromptu dispenser. Father Michael's prayer book even produced a blessing prayer for boats.  Father Michael wasn't enamored with the Ehecatl stem heads, but blessed them, driving away any demons associated with them. Now God can kick back, enjoy this blog and no longer use it as a source of amusement. It was a nice service. And much thanks to Father Michael! Now, everyone, all together: "AMEN".

The Music♪: Matthew Dear, Featuring Tegan And Sara "Bad Ones"

One of the bad ones........